ExWNYer

HBD, B!

I had C-6 surgery on March 31st of this year. Prior to the surgery, I had a constant knifing pain in the left shoulder blade area and on-and-off radiating pain down my left arm (felt like when your arm "falls asleep") and numbness in my forefinger and middlefinger. This all started in late January. I tried all sorts of pain management including steroids, which did not help. Finally, I relented to the surgery. They went in thru the front of my neck, since the back of the neck has so many tendons and muscles. Upon waking from the surgery, I had immediate relief from the pain in my back/neck/arm. The only post-op pain I had was a bad sore throat for about four or five days due to the intubation tube. They gave me Percocet, which I did not need. The most difficult part was not being able to lie down flat for the first couple of weeks while sleeping, but you adjust. The doctor (who was great) put a piece of bone from the bone bank where the disc had been and fused the vertabrae. A titanium plate was also screwed in place for stabilization and quicker recovery time. I was in a hard aspen collar for two weeks and then a soft collar for four weeks after that. I was driving and back to work within 3 1/2 weeks. The doctor told me no contact-type sports for six weeks but by 12 weeks he said that I could whatever I wanted to do. They gave me the option of physical therapy but I declined and have felt great since the procedure. Whoever mentioned lack of mobility or loss in range of motion is mistaken. I was concerned about this and asked the surgeon prior to consenting. He said that the range of motion in your neck is mainly in the C-1/C-2 region (near the top, towards the skull). Surgery in the C-5/C-6 range should cause little to no loss and this was the case for me. Good luck to your sister-in-law. BTW, I only have a small scar at the base of my neck that is about 1 1/2 inches long. I know several people who have had this surgery and they said that after a couple of years they can barely find their scar anymore.

Greg, condolences and God bless. Your dad sounds like he was a wonderful man. That story made me smile...good for you for being able to share in your time of grief.

While on WNSA/Empire, he said on more than one occasion that he'd talk about the NBA if people wanted to do so...they rarely did. When a caller would phone in to discuss the NBA, follow-up callers quickly changed the subject back to either the Bills or Sabres. He played to his audience, plain and simple, and it served him well.

Scoreboard.

A full size replica helmet like the one in my avatar (I already had a full size replica with the standing red buffalo and an authentic full size red helmet with the charging buffalo) and a new Bills flag for flying proudly outside the house.

Both full...thanks for the heads up on the phone the other day.

Hair splitter.

So you do understand me.

At least you'll get your money's worth...please tell me that they include anyone/everyone from 'American Idol'. Except, of course, William Hung...he is a true star.

Wow! That was tough to get through. No, excruciating. Do yourself a favor and cancel your subscription. I was a long time subscriber myself but let mine expire several years ago. I see that they are still sliding down that slippery slope of crappy journalism. I saw the beginning of the end when they hired a local hack from the Richmond paper to be their Deadskins correspondent (Paul Woody). He has the same role in the paper here and he is awful...even a good friend of mine who is a diehard 'skins fan can't stand the guy. BTW, if/when you cancel, be sure to tell them that it is because of their pathetically laughable coverage of the NFL. But then, what can you expect from the self-proclaimed "Bible of baseball".

I can see the headlines now: "Buffalo Bills fan murders washed up, homosexual singer in basement". Thanks a lot, Thai...yet another kick in the crotch by the national media to us Bills fans.

Right. Radiomargaritaville is great! I should have checked the board before heading up...what section were you guys in? We were in B6.

Good point. Do with him what you will.

You had me at goat...

You should know since you've got them, er, him tied up in your cellar. (Damn, did I just type that out loud?)

Funny you should say that...as soon as we pulled into the parking lot and set up our tailgate, I could smell wacky weed blowing in from somewhere behind our spot. It didn't last long and I didn't smell any the rest of the night...or maybe I just caught a "contact high". Seriously, there was a lot of beer and tequila (especially on our part) but the weed is more the scene of 'Deadheads' or 'Phish' followers.

Sorry, Lori...haven't been around much, lately. I just saw the issue in 'Barnes & Noble' today and thought I'd share. You'd think that a publication as old as 'TSN' would check the validity of their writers and make sure they do a little research before letting them post such unintelligent drivel. Needless to say, they didn't get my money...I have plenty of toilet paper at home.

POOJ, the concert was awesome, as usual. The weather was very comfortable once the sun went down. Nissan Pavilion is one of my favorite venues to see him...I have no interest in going to one of the "big stadium" shows. Hopefully, this is the only year he does this and is just cashing in on the crossover country success of 'License To Chill'. Personally, I'd like to see him go back to playing the much more intimate amphitheatres like Nisssan. If you go to Philly, let me know how you like it.

This is how 'The Sporting News' see the AFC East in 2005: 1) New England: 10-6 2) NJ Jest: 9-7 3) dulfelons 8-8 4) Buffalo 4-12 I don't put much stock in these publications whether they rate the Bills poorly or not. I like to check them out just to see how much football accumen they might have. Wins and losses are hard to predict but these predictions give an overall indication of how they are "gauging" teams. I wouldn't have even had an issue with their standings had they at least had the Bills in the 8-9 win range, but four??? Sure they lost a solid but injury prone LT in JJ and a great run stuffing tackle on the wrong side of 30 in PW and they have essentially a rookie QB who will make his share of mistakes but can't possibly do any worse than the ultimate law-of-diminishing-returns QB, Drew Bledsoe. The Bills still have a top 5 defense and the returning #1 special teams unit in the NFL. The Jest have a dicey armed, injury plagued QB, a RB with another year of mileage on his extemely well worn tires (with no proven backup) and a shaky receiving corps...the dulfelons still have the same tandem of lame QBs, a possible returning disruption in Ricky Williams, a rookie RB, no offensive line, and a rookie head coach. Yet these two rate as 5 and 4 wins better than the Bills, respectively? I don't know who's running the football show over at 'TSN' but I have lost what little respect I still had for them. Sad how a once decent mag has turned into a pathetic rag.

I like where I live. Why should I put it down?

Maybe Tyson confused McBride for Chandler Bing and was just trying to remove a "nubbin".

As I said to Ramius, congratulations on a truly insignificant milestone (only a little less insignificant because of the cowbell).

Congratulations on a truly insignificant milestone.

Oh well, hope it didn't ruin your day. Happy belated BD, BF.